Posted on November 09, 2016 at 1:10 PM

New York – November 9, 2016 – – Open Primaries applauds the voters of Colorado and South Dakota for the strong statement they made in support of voter empowerment.

Coloradans voted to open their primary elections to give the 1.3 million voters who identify as independents, 37% of registered voters in Colorado, a voice. South Dakotans surpassed all expectations and came within less than 40,000 votes of passing a ballot measure that would completely “de-partisanize” the state’s primary system.

Posted on September 08, 2016 at 9:42 AM

New York – September 8, 2016 – This year’s primaries have already cost New York taxpayers over $25 million dollars according to an analysis by election reform group Open Primaries. Indeed, the gross lack of transparency by New York officials on the costs of primary elections likely makes the true cost of New York’s primaries much higher. While 3.2 million voters in the state of New York– 27 percent of the electorate-- will be blocked from voting in next week’s primary election, millions more of their tax dollars will continue to fund closed primaries.

Posted on August 29, 2016 at 10:10 AM

New York – August 29, 2016 – New York, NY – August 29, 2016 – This year’s presidential primaries cost Florida taxpayers at least $13,280,871 according to an analysis by election reform group Open Primaries. Indeed, the gross lack of transparency by Florida officials on the costs of primary elections likely makes the true cost of Florida’s primaries much higher. While 3.2 million voters in the state of Florida– well over a quarter of registered voters in the state -- will be blocked from voting in tomorrow’s primary election, millions more of their tax dollars will fund tomorrow’s closed primaries.

Posted on August 16, 2016 at 3:30 PM

New York – August 16, 2016 – "Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier decision to support the way the people of Hawaii hold their primary elections, rejecting the Democratic Party's desire to exclude independent and unaffiliated voters for voting in elections they pay for.

We commend the Court’s decision to stand with people of Hawaii against the Democratic Party’s attempts to disenfranchise them. The primaries are funded by the taxpayers and administered by government agencies. Every Hawaiian should be able to cast a ballot for the candidate of their choice, whether they are registered in a party or not. The state of Hawaii alone spent over $1.5 million taxpayer dollars on the presidential primary this year.

Posted on July 21, 2016 at 3:15 PM

New York – July 21, 2016 – Members of the Democratic National Convention Standing Committee on Rules are planning on proposing an amendment to the Charter of the Democratic National Committee on Saturday in Philadelphia to open up the primaries across the country. To support their cause they plan on hand delivering Open Primaries petition which asks the Republican and Democratic Parties to “take such steps as are necessary to adopt rules that require all state party organizations to conduct open Presidential Primaries.” Close to 40,000 Americans, representing all 50 states, have signed the petition and Open Primaries activists and Convention delegates will be in Philadelphia to support this critical electoral reform.

“70% of Americans want open primaries. 62% of Republicans want open primaries. But the Republican Party leadership is willing to "make a deal" to close primaries because a small minority of party activists favor them. No wonder 43% of Americans now identify as independents. The political parties, time and time again, ignore the voters in favor of insider and special interests.

The time has come to take these decisions out of the hands of the parties. The primaries are funded by the taxpayers. The people should decide who gets to vote, not party leaders. I'm confident that if the American people got to decide who could vote in primaries, that all fifty states would conduct contests open to every registered voter,” declared John Opdycke, President of Open Primaries.

Posted on July 12, 2016 at 11:19 AM

New York – July 12, 2016 – Open Primaries, which exploded into voters’ consciousness this spring as a direct result of a deeply flawed presidential primary season, will deliver a petition with well over 30,000 signatures representing Americans in all 50 states to the Republican Party Rules Committee this Thursday in Cleveland. The petitions asks the Republican and Democratic Parties to “take such steps as are necessary to adopt rules that require all state party organizations to conduct open Presidential Primaries.”

Posted on June 23, 2016 at 11:00 AM

New York – June 23, 2016 – The presidential primaries cost taxpayers at least $287,806,312.9 in closed primary states and at least $427,300,168.79 for all states according to an analysis by election reform group Open Primaries. Indeed the gross lack of transparency by states on the costs of American elections likely makes the true costs of our primaries much higher. While 26.3 million voters in closed primary states were blocked from casting a single vote, their tax dollars still funded the party primaries.

Posted on June 22, 2016 at 6:05 PM

New York – June 22, 2016 – This week Michael Hardy, general counsel and vice president of the National Action Network, announced his strong support for electoral reforms within the Democratic Party, particularly open primaries. The National Action Network is one of the country’s preeminent social justice organizations.